At a minimum, the embattled third baseman will miss the World Baseball Classic and he may need to cut the season short for surgery - and four months of rehab - if the discomfort sticks around.

The best-case scenario is that he toughs it out until the season is over when he can have arthroscopic surgery to remove the cyst, repair the tear and shave down bone spurs.

"Right now, the route we're going is conservative," Cashman said in Tampa in the afternoon.

"We don't want to rush into it."

At least one weary Bomber fan - shaken by A-Rod's admission he used steroids and his off-field shenanigans - wishes the Yankees would send the highest-paid player in baseball straight to the operating room.

"He needs time away from the team," said Joe Chapley, 28, a paramedic from Riverdale who was reflecting on A-Rod's woes outside the Yankee Clubhouse on Fifth Ave.

"He's got problems with the things he was doing - with Madonna ... the steroid business, now the cyst. He's got a lot of things he needs to clear up."

Rodriguez, 33, had been bothered by tightness in his right hip since last season and flew to Vail, Colo., to be examined by a specialist.

They found a large cyst - a fluid-filled sac - caused by a tear in the labrum, the cartilage that surrounds the hip socket.

Word that he was going under the knife came from his brother in the morning, who told ESPNdeportes.com that surgery was scheduled for Monday.

Yankees management was tight-lipped for about five hours until Cashman held a news conference to reveal the extent of his star player's injury and the treatment options.

He said surgery would sideline Rodriguez for four months and that while the team hopes he'll make it to October, an operation before then is not "off the table."

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That concerns fan Joe Osicki, 25, a graphic designer from Bethpage, L.I., who thinks the Yankees depend too much on Rodriguez to take the risk of a mid-season dropout.

"I think he should have the surgery now to protect himself and his future with the Yankees," Osicki said.

"If he gets hurt worse during the year, it could hinder the team, especially if they're going toward the playoffs."

Steve Digrazia, 24, a truck driver from Chelsea was cheered by the news.

"He's a good player, and it's an important season coming up with the new stadium," he said.

Another fan, who said Rodriguez is his favorite Yankee, just sighed at the latest sharp turn on the A-Rod roller-coaster ride.

"I'm a little sick of seeing him in the news all the time," said Lehman College student Franchie Valentin, 18. "As much as I love A-Rod ... there's so many more important things to talk about."